CMU undergrad awarded summer internship at Smithsonian

One CMU student is spending her summer interning at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

The 10 week summer internship is offered through the Natural History Research Experiences program.

Each year, fewer than 20 undergraduates are selected from around the world to work with museum scientists to complete an independent research project.

CMU senior Allison Snider was one of those recipients.

She said, “It was something that I never ever would have expected and so it was just kind of a dream come true as cliche as it sounds, but it’s definitely something that is going to look incredible on a resume and I’m learning as much as possible from it and it’s one of those experiences that I’ll never have again.”

CMU is only one of four academic institutions in Michigan to offer a museum studies program and one of 172 nationwide.

Snider said it was validating to walk into the internship with prior lab experience from her classes at CMU.

“It really speaks to our museum’s program. It shows that we have very strong educators and very strong classes and everything to prepare our students. It’s definitely been nice to come in here prepared from our professors and from our museum back at CMU.”

She said already having basic lab skills allows her more time for her research project.